Dutruc Absinthe Pyrogene

Ceramic match striker advertising Dutruc absinthe.
circa 1910

Absinthe Dutruc is a historic absinthe brand produced in Le Grand-Lemps (Isère, France), in the Bièvre plain.

History of the distillery

• Founded in 1828 by Pierre Auguste Dutruc, a local confectioner and liquorist, son of a regional grocer.
• His son Auguste Romain Dutruc continued the business and created the company "Auguste Dutruc Fils et Cie".
• After the death of Auguste Romain in 1871 (at only 32 years old), his widow Marie Eugénie Tivollier successfully took over the management.
• The distillery experienced a period of prosperity at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th: significant production of absinthe (the flagship product), liqueurs, syrups, brandies, quinquina, etc. It won awards in several competitions (London, Paris, Nice...) and exported internationally.
• Another local distillery, that of the Broquis, was founded around 1854 in Le Grand-Lemps.

End of operations

The First World War, followed by the ban on absinthe in France in 1915, severely weakened the company. It lost its prominence after the war. Jean Dutruc took over the reins around 1935; after his death in 1952, his wife continued for a few years. The distillery closed permanently around 1960.

Legacy

• The former Dutruc house (a large bourgeois property with a distillery, offices, and park) has become the town hall of Le Grand-Lemps.
• Advertising objects for the brand (ceramic match strikers, carafes) are today sought after by collectors of Belle Époque items related to absinthe.

Unlike the large houses of Pontarlier (Pernod, Guy, etc.), Dutruc was a regional distillery from the Isère that achieved notable success in its day thanks to its absinthe and its range of liqueurs, before disappearing with prohibition and market changes.